Welcome Home
by Lonicera Japonica
Summary: The Strawhats welcome Usopp back to the crew after his brief stint as a solo hero. Yes, all of them. It's not crack, I swear.


After dinner, Nami told Usopp that there was a surprise for him, but that he had to give them time to set it up. Usopp wasn't normally fond of surprises simply because the majority of them tended to be nasty, but this seemed like it might be a good one. After all, it was his first day back. So he sat at the kitchen table, swinging his legs back and forth, staring at the clock and waiting for five minutes as instructed. Then he got up and went to his room.

He'd claimed his room when he was first given the tour of the Thousand Sunny, and he'd put all of his clothes and possessions away. He remembered commenting that it didn't feel right; something about it was off. Chopper had remarked that it just wasn't lived in enough, and Luffy had announced that they would all just have to sleep in the sick bay for the first few nights to get used to the…what was it, Robin, and Robin had told him that the word was "atmosphere" and Luffy had nodded decisively.

But Sanji had said that the surprise was in Usopp's room, so to his room he went. He opened the door (which was kind of neat, in a way, considering that Usopp hadn't had a room with a proper door since he lived back in Syrup Village) and found everyone waiting for him inside. Well, he supposed he'd expected everyone to be there; why wouldn't they be? So he closed the door and walked into the middle of the room. Nami and Robin were both sitting on his bed (something else he hadn't had one of in a while), and they were holding hands, which struck Usopp as a little odd because normally they only did that when they thought no one was looking. But that was okay.

Zoro was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the bed, next to Robin's legs, just looking at Usopp. Not in an unnerving way; it was just a look. Sanji was also looking at him, leaning against the dresser and smiling slightly. Chopper was there, in human form, standing with his hands behind his back next to the wall. He was smiling, too, somewhat shyly. Usopp was beginning to wonder what was going on, at this point, especially because Franky, who was standing in the corner, looked…awkward. Awkward was not something Usopp had seen on Franky before (his face was bold, but his posture said that he was out of his element).

Luffy, most notably, was standing in the middle of the room, grinning his trademark damn-fool grin. At this point, Usopp had more than a few questions running through his mind, but then one that came out of his mouth when he opened it (by chance more than conscious decision) was "So what's the surprise?"

"Us," Luffy said happily, spreading his arms wide, to indicate everyone in the room.

Usopp opened his mouth to speak, but it quickly became clear that no words were forthcoming. All of his crewmates were smiling now, ranging from Franky's brazen grin to Robin's secretive smirk. Nami was beaming sunnily and Zoro's lips were quirked up at the corner; Chopper's smile was shy and reserved, while Sanji's was an open invitation.

"You gonna stand there with your mouth open all day or come over here?" Zoro said, and stood up. Nami and Robin did too, and on some tacit signal, everyone advanced upon Usopp like friendly, stalking panthers.

"G-guys?" Usopp said, but Robin cut him off with a finger to his lips. Sanji lifted her hand away, intertwining their fingers, and covered Usopp's mouth with his own.

"We missed you," Chopper said, breaking out into a grin.

"Don't ever leave us again," Nami ordered, quite seriously, and moved in to press herself up against him.

Zoro didn't say anything, only smiled and planted a kiss on Usopp's neck. Luffy wrapped around Usopp from behind, nuzzling his ear, and stretched one arm to the back of the room to grab Franky by the sleeve and haul him forward. The newest Strawhat pirate stood awkwardly between Sanji, who was still busy kissing Usopp, and Robin, who was unbuttoning Usopp's overalls and Sanji's shirt and Luffy's vest and untying Zoro's boots all at the same time, until Robin used her two indigenous hands to pull Franky down by the collar and gave him a reassuring kiss.

Usopp stood in the middle of the fray, mostly just allowing himself to be mauled, and all he could think through the happy haze beginning to descend upon his brain was _Wow, it's good to be home._


End file.
